In a home recorder/reproducer such as a digital recorder/reproducer (for example, a digital VTR), video and audio signals are digitized in order to consume a small amount of tape consumption and to record for a long time, and they are further coded at a high efficiency to reduce the amount of data.
For example, the now commercialized home digital VTR compresses the amount of video signal to about ⅕ (approximately 25 M bps), and then records the compressed data on a magnetic tape. The video and audio signals, after being digitized, can be recorded with high quality.
The techniques for recording information of such compressed digital video and audio signals on a magnetic tape or magnetooptical disk are disclosed in JP-A-9-160753.
In addition, another home VTR that discriminates the commercials from a current television broadcast and reproduces them for quick seeing has been manufactured. This VTR is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-5-250762, and further improved in its usability.